Cotswold Plod 2011

Cotswold Plod 201140 miles non stop starting at midnight on 10th/11th June 2011
As the challenge is fast approaching last week we decided to test the night gear, having never walked at night before we thought it would be a good experience, not only to test the head torches but also to improve our navigation skills (especially for Charlie as he struggles with his directions in the day light). We decided on a tough 18 mile walk from Bath to Tormarton (which is officially the first stage of the Cotswold way) and after hitching a lift from our resident accountant Neil Pollinger with found ourselves on the outskirts of Bath just below Landsdown.

We set off at about 7pm and soon found are way walking up and extremely steep hill to Lansdowne, this climb must have lasted about 20 minutes and had us all blowing apart from Chesney who at 23 was showing his youth as he strolled out in front. Once up on the top the terrain levelled out and as time wore on we passed Bath Race course, Landsdown Golf club and the Infamous Lansdowne battlefields (battle of Lansdowne was part of the British civil fought on 5 July 1643. Lord Hopton led a Royalist force against William Wallers Parliamentarians).

The terrain was very undulating with some tough climbs but nothing to strenuous. As we approached Marshfield we decided to stop to put on our head torches, we got some funny looks from the locals as we passed by the local polling station and crashed through the undergrowth trying to find the next path. As night fell we picked up a good pace and swiftly covered the next 6 miles finally finishing in Tormarton at 10.30.

Highlights of the Walk

• Charlie having trouble with the gates (again)
• Charlie slipping down a hill
• Jonny struggling up a massive Hill, then blaming it on the sandwich he’d just eaten

If you would like to sponsor us, please click on the following link. We have set an ambitious target of £2500 so all help is greatly appreciated.

More info on the Cotswold Plod can be found here - http://www.action.org.uk/plod_cotswold_way

The link to our sponsorship page can be found here - http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/rsg1

Cotwold Way Plod 2011

On the weekend of 11th June 2011, a team of 4 including me will be trekking non-stop for forty miles across the Cotswold Way, in the DARK, and all in the name of charity!


We are raising money for 'Action For Medical Research for Children', a charity dedicated to improving the health of children and babies across the UK. We are hoping to raise a grand total of £2500 collectively, to help Action Medical Research continue to address serious childhood conditions, and improve the quality of life for children with disabilities.

We will complete the challenge in two seperate teams; the first headed up by Jonny Hiles and consisting of Stuart Adams, Charlie Ten Broeke, Oliver Dawe along with team driver Chesney Windsor; and the second headed up by Jon Ball, and including Mark Beale, James McNicol, Paul Bennett and David Nock.

Stuart said: "Training is underway and both teams have already done a number of walks in preparation for the challenge. Friendly rivalry is growing between the teams, and all those involved are definitely starting to understand how tough this challenge will be. "

For more details and sponsorship please log on to the link below, your support would be very much appreciated for a very worthy cause. http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/rsg1 or http://rsg-charity.blogspot.com/

Summer Months

Mid July and August are traditionally a little quieter for recruiters as everyone is on holiday! (Alas not me this year with a young baby!)
This year, however, we haven't really stopped as fewer requirements provides us with time to concentrate on other activities.

Fusion Investments, the recruitment investment business that I run is in negotiations with a number of existing agencies that are looking for an investment of either, money, infrastructure or expertise to build, grow and exit in the future. There are a couple of likely prospects that I am hopeful of completeing some time during Q4 2010 so watch this space.
The summer is a good time for reflection about business direction and if you are looking for an ivestment or exit, please do give me a call. We regularly receive a number of enquiries, purely making contact for some time in the future or for information and we welcome all contact. We try and offer sage advice to recruitment owners and start ups, which includes encouragement as well as discouragement where necessary. We have been approached by lots of job boards in the past months which is a sign that there is still plenty of ideas of how to improve on the current formats which will be great for the industry. We do own a job board and again continue to welcome fresh ideas.
A success story for us is from a business of ours called SNS. SNS were a new start up business that have been trading for 4 months. The MD, had been an undervalued recruiter working in a niche IT market for a number of years. SNS specialise in EPOS and Networking recruitment.
We set them up with an office, salary, car and IT infrstructure as well as a job board access etc and delivery support from the main group. The MD has unlmited access to us for delivery, business processing, support and advice if he wants to use it!
They now have regular permanent placements and contractors working and an extra sales staff member to push business further. Its a great model and I will ask the MD to write something about his experiences of Fusion Recruitment Investment in the coming weeks.

We are looking for businesses particularly in the North West, Midlands, Scotland and the South East. Call me on 0117 370 3076 for an informal discussion.

The other activity occupying a significant amoungt of my time is recruitment compliance. I have done a number of assignments over the past couple of years reviewing pre-engagement and pre-employment checks for agencies and corporates and it's a complex subject. The recruitment industry is still getting to grips with it as legislative, regulatory and client-led demands are made on the recruiter to gather pre-engagement information. Some are reasonable, others are impractical and some clients are in danger of making it impossible to do business with them! The current project is well underway and was scheduled by the organisation to run over the summer to minimise impact on the business in quieter times.

Outside of work, family life is great - We are still getting to Topsham most weekends, although as Theo is becoming more active, its becoming harder to keep him entertained on the boat. We have had a couple of long weekends and are off for a week in early September.

Call me if you would like to discuss the above on 0117 370 3076 or email jonny.hiles@fusioninvestments.co.uk

www.fusioninvestments.co.uk

Director - Manchester

The Fusion roadshow moves on.....

Director - IT & Business Change Recruitment
North West

We will be launching a new North West based IT & Business Change Recruitment Business in 2010.

The Opportunity
We are seeking a Managing Director to shape, launch and build a new IT Recruitment Business. You will be involved right at the outset with naming, branding and designing the business strategy together with the assistance of a very successful management team of a Recruitment plc.

The new business will be yours to run and build, using the support and infrastructure of the recruitment plc to make the business a success.
Furthermore, you will need to recruit a team and offices will be provided in a central location. The business will not be restricted by location.
We are keen to attract the best and this is a salaried role, with equity in the new business.

The Person
You will be a proven IT Recruiter, with an established network in the North West market.
You will be ambitious.
You will be entrepreneurial, and have your own ideas about building a successful IT Recruitment Business.
You will lead by example. You will be passionate about IT Recruitment.

You may have already run your own or someone elses business, or be an employee looking for the next step. We are open to ideas!

To apply, send a profile to Jonny Hiles or call for an informal conversation. All communication is treated in strict confidence.

This is a genuine and unique opportunity and we look forward to discussing ideas with you.

Email address is jonny.hiles@fusioninvestments.co.uk or call 0117 3703076

Recruiter in need of investment? Recruitment Start up? Recruitment M&A? - www.fusioninvestments.co.uk

Jonny Hiles

Recruitment Investment Opportunities

The recruitment market continues to gather momentum and new opportunities are available for ambitious recruiters.

Wanted: Recruitment Businesses. Start up or established recruitment companies wanted. - http://www.fusioninvestments.co.uk/invest/


We are actively looking for recruitment acquisition / recruitment investment opportunities in 2010 so if you are exiting or looking for investment, call me on 0117 370 3076 for an informal and confidential conversation.

Jonny Hiles
www.fusioninvestments.co.uk

Hot Vacancies

Top couple of urgent live contract roles from the network -

1) Polaris / Product Writer Developer
3 months Contract Vacancy based in the Midlands
The job holder will be responsible for the programming of pricing rate reviews in the Polaris product writer software. They will also be responsible for testing Polaris deliveries using Microfocus's automated testing software 'TestPartner'. This is an urgent requirement starting asap for a leading insurance business. We have interview slots available for tomorrow!

2) Onsite Resourcing Manager
3 months contract based in Swindon
Contract opportunity for a professional onsite recruiter. Specifically, the role is sourcing against multiple perm vacancies from Direct and 3rd part agency suppliers.
Starting ASAP

If you are interested in the above, please drop me a line on 0845 117 0 115 or jonny@recruitment-hub.com

Whilst you are here - why not learn a bit more about me by visiting other pages on the blog - http://jonnyhub.blogspot.com

May

Well, what do you know, the summer has arrived! (I am aware that I speak to soon but this is the 4th straight day or cloudless skies!)
We have all spent a few days basking in the sun over the weekend and already, the office air conditioning has broken down and our office manager is spending considerable time trying to negotiate the definition of room temperature. Is it 20 degrees or 25? Wikipedia explains more - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_temperature

The second of the may bank holidays is nearly upon us and we again have had a record month. This year has been terrific for IT and Finance recruitment and as our main specialisms, we have made the most of the opportunities. I have been mapping where we place most of our business and watching the map evolve over the past 12 months, some of the biggest customers of last year have now cut back whilst others have come through in even greater numbers. Financial services is the primary industry for us and we have seen an overall increase in contractor numbers over the year, despite some the cutbacks with individual accounts. Contractor rates have increased as well as demand has increased.

Outside of Financial Services, we have recently launched a new brand, specialising in the retail market. We have supplied a number of large retailers over the years and have some well established relationships. We were approached via Fusion Investments for funding and support to launch a specialist brand and we were so impressed with the MD, his energy, passion and business plan, that we were delighted to welcome him onboard. The business is now up and running and has already made contractor placements.

If you are looking to make the most of the upturn, Fusion is a specialist recruitment investment business. We invest in start ups and existing recruitment businesses and again, looking for further opportunities so call if you would like to discuss a new venture / Joint Venture or an exit plan. My number with Fusion in 0117 370 3076.

The Hub
The Hub - The Hub is a network of recruitment specialists utilising a centralised delivery, back office and support function – or hub – hence the name.

Through partnership, The Hub provides the delivery capability, infrastructure & support of a recruitment plc to independent recruiters utilising our significant resources.

The Hub is part of a recruitment plc – one of the largest independent recruitment organisations in the UK with a multi-discipline delivery capability. Browse these pages to learn more about The Hub how we can help you to open up new channels and maximise revenue from your existing business.

Outside of work, we have spent the past few weekends in Topsham now that the boat is back on the water. Topsham is just gorgeous and we really enjoy our days out on the River Exe. Theodore has had his first couple of gentle sailing trips down the river and seems to have taken to it. We are taking it easy as we don't want to scare him - we are working up to a Dartmouth trip soon. I have my first boys weekend away planned with some of my old crew-mates from the round the world race f, although Domino is very different from the 60' Ocean racing yacht that we were on, but I am sure will be equally enjoyable.


If you would like to discuss any of the above, please contact me on 0845 117 0115 or email - jonny@recruitment-hub.com.

Website for The Hub - www.recruitment-hub.com
Website for Fusion - www.fusioninvestments.co.uk

Hope all are well?

Jonny Hiles